20-year-old asks leaders to 'fix the debt'

Brandon Scott is only two years out of Atlantic High School in Delray Beach, but he was one of more than 50 Fix the Debt volunteers from around the nation to meet Thursday with congressional leaders in Washington to urge them to find a compromise solution to the nation's debt problems.

Scott, 20, of Lake Worth, who now studies economics and political science at the University of Florida, said he and another Florida volunteer from the nonprofit, nonpartisan Fix the Debt group talked with Capitol Hill staffers who work for the state's two senators, Bill Nelson and Marco Rubio. Scott and the Rev. John Newman of Jacksonville also met with U.S. Rep. Corinne Brown, a Democrat whose district includes parts of Jacksonville and Gainesville.

The two spoke on behalf of more than 21,000 Floridians who have signed the Citizens' Petition to Fix the Debt, that asks lawmakers to pass a comprehensive law to address the more than $17 trillion national debt that keeps growing.

"Just as with any reform, it's never going to be loved by all, but we've got to reach a compromise," Scott said in a telephone interview.

The nation has to come to grips with its growing payments to individuals, such as monthly Social Security checks and Medicare medical insurance for seniors, Scott said.

"Social Security and Medicare are great programs, but as they are run now they are not sustainable," he said.

Trustees overseeing the two programs said in July that the Social Security Trust Fund is expected to exhaust savings by 2035 and Medicare's hospital trust fund will run out of money nine years earlier. However, taxes for the two programs will continue to come in.

Scott favors taxing more annual income above $113,700, which is this year's cutoff for assessing Social Security taxes.

He also wants to gradually increase the retirement age another year — to 68 — as a way to cut government costs, which, Scott said, would ultimately strengthen the program for senior Americans.

It would help his baby boomer mother as well as his generation, who right now don't think there will be any retirement program for them, Scott said.

Both Democrats and Republicans have to get over their distrust of each other and work on a solution to avoid default — before the Feb. 7 deadline that cuts off the U.S. government from borrowing more, he added.

"Both sides of the aisle know there's a problem and want to fix the debt," Scott said.

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